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Ferrari Readies a Successor for the Top-Selling 488 Sports Car

(Bloomberg) -- Ferrari NV unveiled the first images of its F8 Tributo, an heir to its best-selling 488 sports car, ahead of its official debut at the Geneva Motor Show next month.

The mid-engined, two-seat berlinetta is lighter and more powerful than the $260,000 488 GTB it replaces, the Italian manufacturer said Thursday in a statement. Ferrari will start to take orders for the V8-powered model next month. Ferrari is also working on a plug-in hybrid which is expected to be unveiled later this year.

Ferrari is set to unveil five new models in 2019 as it targets a 10 percent boost in operating profit. While adding to bread-and-butter models like the F8, the carmaker is working on the Icona project, which will add higher-priced vehicles costing more than $1 million.

The carmaker needs to sell more limited-edition cars to reach a target of nearly doubling profits to 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) no later than 2022.

Vehicles such as the 1.6 million-euro Monza supercar are key to reach new Chief Executive Officer Louis Camilleri’s goals. Ferrari last year sold 499 of those to hand-picked customers. Overall, shipments jumped 10 percent while revenue was essentially flat after Ferrari sold more entry-level vehicles like the Portofino.

Camilleri, who took over from the late Sergio Marchionne in July, seeks to boost Ferrari’s appeal in a quest to catch up with the trading multiples of luxury goods companies like Hermes International. The luxury retailer trades at 23 times expected earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization for 2020, compared with Ferrari at 16 times.